Mighty Ducks 1. Goldberg

**GOLDBERG'S POV**

Detention sucks! Especially when its not your fault. Some stupid cheerleader was trying to get me to talk to Luis for her and when I told her to do it herself the teacher catches me talking of course and gives me detention!

Wait until Averman hears about this!

That is if he's not too busy pretending to be Connie's boyfriend.

Yes he told me everything and I must admit I was really surprised to hear that she'd agreed to it. I was even more surprised when I heard they went on a 'date'.

And now I'm more confused when I approached my dorm and Julie 'the Cat' Gaffney stepped out of my dorm room with a grin on her face.

"Hey Catlady what's up?" I asked frowning slightly when I realised that she had been crying.

"Hey Goldie, you might not want to go in there" despite her red eyes she was smiling.

"Why not?" I asked hoping I wasn't being kicked out of my dorm room.

"Well Connie and Averman are in there and I think they might be making their relationship 'official'" she grinned.

"Really?" I couldn't help but ask.

No offence to Averman because he is my best friend but if he can get a girlfriend as hot as Connie then maybe so can I?

I know I just called Connie hot but in all truth, she is. Its not that I like her more than a friend, its just that I can appreciate one's beauty without feeling the urge to kiss them.

Take Julie for example, she's cute in the blond "All-American Girl" kind of way but that doesn't mean I want to date her.

"Yes, its so cute how they are with each other" Julie gushed.

However, the smile on her face quickly disappeared when the door to Portman's room opened and a cheerleader bounded out. It didn't take a genius to work out what had been going on in there.

"Bye Portman" the cheerleader giggled.

"Later babe" Portman replied not noticing Julie nor myself standing in the hall.

"Goldie you wanna hang out?" Julie asked.

I could see the desperation in her face. She wanted to get out of there and fast.

"Sure" I replied thinking that since Connie and Averman were getting it together in my dorm room (ew I hope they were on his bed on not mine), I may as well hang out with the Catlady.

I wasn't too surprised when she took my arm and hurried me down the corridor.

"Hey Jules!" I heard Portman call.

Julie kept walking.

"Julie!" Portman yelled louder.

"Julie Portman's talking to you" I nudged her glancing back at Portman who looked confused.

"I know and I don't want to talk to that jerk right now" Julie said loud enough for Portman to hear.

"What have I done?" Portman asked looking puzzled.

He didn't get an answer because we made it to the door and were safely outside.

"So what was that about?" I asked her.

"Nevermind" Julie replied and I got the hint loud and clear.

She did not want to talk about it.

"Goldie do you want to get something to eat?" Julie asked.

"Sure" I replied thinking that this girl knew me well.

"Don't even think about trying to make me fat again" Julie warned her eyes flashing with laughter.

"Wouldn't dream of it Catlady" I replied.

As upset as I was when we first came to Eden Hall and Orion gave my spot to Julie, I now saw that he was right, I do make a much better defenseman than a goalie. I enjoy it more too.

I probably sound like one of the Bash Brothers but checking people is kinda fun and because I'm so big, read 'wide', I'm pretty good at it too.

If only I were a better skater.

"I really want a hotdog how about you?" Julie was asking me.

"You don't have to ask me twice Jules" I agreed happily. I was glad the girls on the hockey team weren't like the other preppy girls at Eden Hall who ate nothing but celery and drank only Evian.

I liked a girl with a real appetite.

We decided to hit up the arcade after our hotdogs and Julie actually beat me on the air hockey table.

"You've been practising with Banks haven't you?" I accuse. Adam Banks is the champion at air-hockey, much like he is on the real ice too.

"I almost beat him last week!" Julie declared holding her soda up in the air in triumph as she got another goal in.

"Yeah _almost_ is the key word" I teased her good-naturedly.

"Shut up Goldie!" she scolded me for bursting her little bubble.

"That hurts Julie!" I told her.

She just grinned at me.

"Shoot look at the time, we'd better go before we break curfew!" Julie checked her watch.

Had we really been out all that time?

"Good thinking, I don't want detention two days in a row" I told her.

"You had detention today? Why?" Julie asked as we walked back to Eden Hall.

"Luis and his stupid cheerleader groupies" I grumbled.

"Oh" Julie replied.

We walked on in silence for a little while.

"So why are you mad at Portman if you don't mind me asking?" I asked.

"He's a pig" she replied simply.

"What else is new? Connie yelled at him earlier in the hall, called him a 'big fucking idiot' to his face" I reported.

"She did?" Julie's eyes grew wide.

"Yep I don't think the poor guy knew what was going on!" I laughed at the memory. Portman really did resemble a 'stunned mullet'.

"Can we talk about something else?" Julie asked.

"Yeah sure" I replied.

"Are you looking forward to the game on Friday?" she asked.

"Yeah for sure, one more win and we make the play-offs" I told her.

"Its exciting isn't it, the whole competing for the championship flag, especially at high school level" Julie said.

"Yeah its great" I replied. It was more exciting than pee-wees but I'm not sure its better than playing for the USA.

We came to the gates of Eden Hall with about ten minutes to spare.

"Do you need a hand getting back to your dorm?" I asked aware that it was now dark.

"Yeah if that's okay, I know Varsity hang around the girls dorms at night" Julie said.

I completely understood her not wanting to have a run-in with Varsity, especially if she were by herself.

"Well here you are all nice and safe back at your dorm" I laughed when we reached her door.

"Thanks for that Goldie, it was fun hanging out with you" she told me.

"Glad to be of service!" I replied with a grin.

"Geez what is this 'date a nerd day'? First Moreau, now Gaffney" one of the cheerleaders sneered to her friends as they passed Julie and Goldberg.

"Oh go catch the clap from your Varsity boyfriend" Julie retorted blushing when she realised how mean that sounded.

"They deserved it" I told her feeling my good mood burst. I tried not to let the hurt show. I really didn't care what a cheerleader thought of me but it still hurt being called a 'nerd' to my face.

I was a part of the hockey team wasn't I? I was an athlete just the same as the likes of Portman, Adam, Charlie and Luis. So why was I deemed a 'nerd'?

"You're not a nerd Goldie, they're just uneducated imbeciles" Julie told me.

"Thanks Jules, I'll see you later" I decided now was the best time to head back to my dorm.

"Night Goldie"


	2. Luis

**LUIS' POV**

Sitting at the breakfast table I was surprised to find that I was the only Duck in the cafeteria. Although it was nice to know the other students were aware that this was our table and didn't try to sit here when we weren't there.

"Hi baby" my girlfriend Mindy Pinkerton, captain of the Varsity Cheerleading squad joined me.

I couldn't help but smile. She was so beautiful with her blond hair and bright blue eyes.

"Hey" I stood up as she sat down. I'd seen Banks doing it whenever girls sat at our table and assumed it was some sort of preppy thing so I started doing it. The first time Mindy had squealed that I was 'such a gentleman'.

Yeah right, where I come from gentlemen don't exist.

"I just heard the weirdest rumour and I was hoping if you could tell me if its true or not" Mindy played with the eggs on her plate.

"I'll see what I can do" I replied wondering if I was going to be in some sort of trouble.

I know girls around here think of me as a flirt and a 'ladies man' but the only girl I flirted with or hounded was Mindy. Needless to say I was a little nervous about what sort of gossip the Eden Hall 'grapevine' had come up with.

"I heard that Connie Moreau is dating that Averman guy" Mindy wrinkled her nose in distaste.

I almost spat my food across the table.

"They are?" I asked suddenly feeling a little ill.

That's kinda strange really, well both things are. The rumour about Connie and Averman, I knew they were just kidding but here Mindy was swearing to me that they were seriously dating and the second thing was why did I suddenly feel sick?

I did have a small crush on Connie during the Goodwill Games but surely that was done and dusted.

"Are you telling me you don't know anything about it?" Mindy cocked her head to the side.

"Nope, I thought they were just joking around" I said in a small voice.

"Hmmm well I guess I'll go ask Cindy, she always knows what's going on" Mindy kissed my cheek and skipped off in search of her vice-captain, Cindy Bates.

I turned back to my breakfast which suddenly didn't seem so appealing anymore.

"Hey Mendoza" I looked up to see Fulton sitting down at the table.

"You're up early Fult" I replied.

"Portman's in a pissy mood" Fulton explained taking a huge bite out of his bacon and egg sandwich.

"Hey do you know if there's any truth to the rumours that Connie and Averman are really together?" I asked him.

Fulton stopped mid-bite then swallowed the contents of his mouth before speaking.

Whoever said the Bash Brothers had no manners was wrong.

"Really? Cos I saw Julie coming out of Averman's room yesterday" he reported.

"Julie? Did Averman take some 'chick magnet' pills or something?" I was shocked. First Connie and now Julie.

"Must have. Connie and Julie aren't talking to Portman now and that's unlike them, especially when Portman hasn't done anything to annoy them for a change" Fulton placed his sandwich on his plate to take a drink of his juice.

"This is getting too weird for me" I replied.

What did I care? I had my girl. She was blond, blue eyed with a killer body and a great smile and she was a nice person too.

"Tell me about it" Fulton resumed eating his sandwich.

I decided to leave the topic alone for now and I dug out my math homework that had to be handed in at first period.

"Dude doing your homework now? That's something me or Portman would do" Fulton grinned.

"I have to pass this class otherwise it's the 'pine pony' for me" I explained.

"Hey you don't have to tell me twice" Fulton decided to get out his own homework.

I wasn't a bad student and I was passing my classes, by normal standards anyway. But our coach had this rule that if we wanted to play we all had to get Bs or better. Preferably better since he had this system that if you got A's you got a little more ice time than those who just scraped through with a B. B minuses didn't count either.

"Luis do you get this?" I looked up to see Fulton scratching his head in confusion.

"Whatchya got there?" I asked knowing he wasn't in my math class.

"Spanish" he told me.

"Let me see" I held my hand out for his paper. I was fluent in Spanish mainly because it was all my father would ever speak in our house. He never answered you if you spoke to him in English even though he understood what you were saying. He was funny like that.

Note I'm talking in past tense here. One day he left our little house and never came back. Some say he was taken hostage and killed by drug dealers and others say he was still on the run from the drug dealers. I never even knew he was involved with drug dealers and neither did my mother. So it was up to me and my brother Miguel to keep my mother and sisters safe from harm and since I was practically forced to come to Eden Hall to make a better life for myself, it was now up to Miguel.

"Ah you've put the words in the wrong order, see this goes here" I explained to him showing him where he went wrong.

"Oh cool, thanks dude" Fulton grinned and took his paper back quickly making the required amendments.

I had to smile, it was a little weird seeing one of the Bash Brothers taking homework so seriously.

"_I don't need no school" _Portman's voice rang in my head as I remembered the protest by the Ducks when Miss Mackay was introduced as our tutor.

I turned my attention back to my own homework and had just finished the last question when the rest of the Ducks made it to the cafeteria.

I looked up and greeted my friends and then I noticed something strange.

Connie and Averman were holding hands.


	3. Ken

**KEN'S POV**

I had heard whispers about Connie and Averman and I laughed them off. I knew that Averman had accidentally told Amber Foster that he was dating Connie to get her off of his back.

Speaking of Amber Foster she had centre stage at her table talking very loudly about some upcoming trip to a rival school. Seems like their world revolves around band, much like our world revolves around hockey.

I have to admit, I did kind of figure that Connie would eventually move on from Guy and find another boy to date. I also thought it would be someone like Charlie or Adam she'd date since she seemed closer to them than anyone else.

I guess I was wrong then.

So the Ducks were all congregated at their usual table in the cafeteria. Charlie and Adam were engaged in a heated discussion about which play would be better to use in a tie situation, Fulton and Luis were discussion Spanish homework, Julie and Goldberg were talking about holding an air hockey tournament, Portman was staring at Julie, Guy was with Karen who kept fussing over his broken nose and Russ and Dwayne were using a plate full of toast to build a house. They were getting a pretty good tower happening with it too.

Suddenly the table became silent when Connie and Averman showed up holding hands.

"Hi guys" Connie said as they took a seat next to each other.

"Hey" the team managed to reply. Well Julie responded with an enthusiastic "Hi!"

She obviously knew what was going on.

"So we have something to tell you guys" Connie spoke up giving Averman a warm smile.

Poor guy, he looked like he was about to be fed to cannibals.

"Go on" Charlie replied a little too smugly. He obviously had a feeling as to what this was about.

Okay so we're not completely stupid, we knew they were about to tell us they were really dating but for some unknown reason, we all decided to act dumb.

Connie took a deep breath and glanced at Averman.

"Okay, well we thought you guys should be the first to know that we are officially dating" Connie said very quickly. I could see Averman wincing in pain a little and I realised she was probably squeezing his hand under the table in a death grip. He did not have a very strong pain threshold.

"I knew it!" Julie was the first person to reply and she seemed ecstatic. I think she would have hugged them but she was on the other side of the table.

Guy on the other hand looked like he was about to explode. I think he caught himself in time as he got up from the table and stormed off leaving a very confused Karen staring open mouthed after him. It took her a few seconds before she got pissed that Guy had left her and she too stormed off.

"Guess he didn't take it so well" Goldberg said nervously.

"Too bad" Connie replied making a face.

I saw Charlie relax a little when she said this and I realised what he'd been thinking. He was now satisfied that Connie wasn't unintentionally using Averman to get over Guy. This was the real deal.

"Wow congratulations guys" I heard myself saying. I didn't get what the big fuss was. If they were happy then I was happy.

"Thanks Kenny" Averman flashed me a grin.

I could almost hear his thoughts – _at least someones happy for us_.

"Yeah congrats y'all" Dwayne was also happy.

"Averman, you da man!" Russ held his hand out for a high five.

"Hear that Cons, _I'm da man!"_ Averman grinned.

"I know babe" she replied.

It was so strange to hear her call him that. Oh well better get used to it.

"I'll say congratulations because I am happy for you but you have to promise me one thing" Charlie started.

"What's that Charlie?" Connie was ready to defend herself if she had to.

"Any problems with Guy over this stays off the ice and please don't break any more of his bones"

"The nose isn't a bone Charlie" Adam pointed out. He immediately retracted knowing he was about to earn himself a slap upside the head from Charlie.

And he got one too.

"I know that! You know what I mean!" Charlie threw his hands up in annoyance at being corrected by their star centre.

The rest of us just grinned.

"Fine, I don't really care what he thinks anyway" Connie replied.

"Good, I'll tell him the same thing later" Charlie was happy again.

I noticed Luis was yet to say anything and Portman hadn't taken his eyes off of Julie the entire time.

What the hell is up with that?

"I have another request" Fulton spoke up attracting everyone's attention, including Portman's. I recognised the evil glint in his eye. He was about to say something funny.

"What?" Connie asked.

"No making out on the ice, I really don't want to see that" Fulton replied making the others laugh.

"Me either!" several Ducks called out.

"Fine, but you didn't say anything about the breakfast table" Connie grinned wickedly and turned to Averman.

"NO!" the Ducks cried and lunged for the pair in a joking attempt to separate them.

In the process they knocked over Russ and Dwayne's 'toast tower'.

"GUYS!" Russ complained loudly.

We laughed even harder which prompted Russ to throw a piece of toast at Charlie.

"HEY!" Charlie protested and threw it right back at Russ.

Charlie has terrible aim with anything other than a puck and it his Averman in the forehead.

I thought Fulton was about to wet himself with laughter.

The mental image of that made me laugh harder and before I knew it a piece of toast came flying at me and hit me in the nose.

"Hey!" it was my turn to protest.

In true Duck fashion it wasn't long before a full-blown food war had begun at our table.

Then it had a domino effect and pretty soon the entire cafeteria was throwing food and Dean Buckley was screaming at us to stop.

He didn't have to look far to find the culprits.

Coach Orion was going to kill us for getting clean-up duty every day after school for a week.


	4. Guy

**GUY'S POV**

I don't know why I reacted like that. I honestly don't.

I'm not jealous or anything. Okay, well maybe just a little. Connie was my first girlfriend after all and we've shared pretty much our first everything together – except our first 'time' of course.

Speaking of girlfriends mine is going to be so mad at me. I still can't believe I just left her like that. It's definitely no secret the Ducks don't really like her and this little feud between Connie and myself isn't making things any easier for her.

Well she did give me a broken nose. I wish I could say I'd seen it coming but I didn't. Who knew she could hit that hard?

Oh yeah Averman knew. She broke his arm in kindergarten for stealing her GI Joe.

He only stole it because I dared him to. I remember I thought that girls shouldn't play with GI Joes and she sure showed me why she should be allowed to.

Looking at the situation now I couldn't help but wonder if I hadn't dared him to steal it and she never got the wrong first impression of him, would he be the one who was her first boyfriend?

I didn't hate Averman; no one could hate Averman. When you look past all the corny jokes he makes in an attempt to make everyone feel better, he really is a decent guy.

And here I am wondering why Connie didn't see this earlier.

That's because I snaked my way in with my fake charm and fake smile.

_Soft hands, remember concentration not strength_ I recall saying those words to her with a wink. I really was a jerk. I'd only acted that way because I'd seen my brother doing it with his girlfriends and I wanted to be the one who got the girl.

Why am I torturing myself with this?

Because I still in some weird kind of way I still love her.

I'll always love her.

Although it is very hard to like her right now, the dull pain in my nose is a reminder of that.

I also can't play hockey for a few weeks.

I really should hate that bitch shouldn't I?

Speaking of bitches I hear my name being called.

"Guy Germaine! I want a word with you"

I turned around and tried not to groan when I saw Karen's best friend Krista heading my way. She did not look happy.

"What?" I try to let my annoyance show.

"Don't you what me you jackass. What the hell did you do to Karen?" she's standing in front of me with her hands on her hips.

"I didn't do anything" I replied. All I did was leave her with the Ducks.

"Bullshit, you had to have done something. Why else would she have locked herself in her dorm crying her eyes out saying she hates you" Krista's face was getting redder by the second.

She almost reminded me of Violet in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when she turned blue.

"Fine! I'll go talk to her" I resigned taking off down the hall.

"I hope she smacks you out" Krista called out behind me.

It's so nice to know you're loved by your girlfriend's best friend. Note the extreme sarcasm.

I knew what I would be greeted with once Karen opened her door and I must admit I wasn't exactly looking forward to it.

"She won't come out" another one of Karen's friends told me when she saw me. I couldn't remember her name though.

"I know, Krista told me" I replied stepping closer to the door.

"Karen open up" I pounded on the door.

"Get lost Guy" she yelled back at me.

"I'm not going anywhere now save us both some time and open the damn door" I said a little louder than I intended to.

The door swung open and a tear stricken Karen let me in and slammed the door shut behind us.

"What do you want? Haven't you done enough?" she screamed at me.

"I'm sorry I left you. I just didn't want to start another fight with them" I replied as if it were the most logical thing.

Unfortunately a hysterical girl almost always refused to see logic.

"You left me sitting there like an idiot because you didn't want to start a fight with them right after your ex-girlfriend announces that she's dating someone else. Are you fucking kidding me?" Karen's voice had calmed considerably but there was this eerie stillness to it.

"Look" I started but she cut me off.

"No you look. If you're still in love with Connie just tell me. I'd rather know the truth rather than just be the girl you settle for until she becomes available again" she looked at me.

It was a look I couldn't bear to see. I'd hurt her and now I needed to fix it.

So I told her the truth.

"Baby, I'm not in love with Connie. I still love her but it's a different kind of love. That and its too weird to see her with Averman" I told her as I stepped towards her and took her hands in mine.

"Why is it so weird, you knew she'd find someone else" Karen looked sceptical. I couldn't blame her though, my actions at breakfast had given the impression I was a jealous asshole.

"But its _Averman_" I pointed out. Again, there's nothing wrong with Averman per say, its just I dunno, the last person I'd expect to see her dating.

"Right" Karen said slowly. I knew she wasn't understanding. That was the thing I liked the most about her. She had this ability to see past a person's looks. Well she was dating me wasn't she?

"So what does this mean for us?" I ask hopefully.

"What do you want it to mean?" she said softly. I could tell she was anticipating that I would break up with her.

"It means that I want you and no one else" I told her.

She broke out into a huge grin "Really?" she asked amazed that I would say that.

"Yes really" I told her wanting to kiss her.

I didn't have to wait long because she threw her arms around my neck and kissed me.

Now comes the part where I figure out a way not to freak out the next time I see Connie and Averman together.

Its not going to be easy.


	5. Dwayne

**DWAYNE'S POV**

Things sure are strange today.

Julie and Goldberg seem to have stopped their bickering over who should be the number one goalie and have become friends again.

Guy stormed off in a huff at breakfast and hasn't been seen since.

Portman keeps staring at Julie and gets annoyed when she doesn't acknowledge him. I think she's not speaking to him for some reason that no one but her knows.

Russ is still complaining about losing our 'toast tower'. You know he does have a point. That thing was the darn biggest tower of toast I've ever seen.

Charlie and Adam are bickering over who started the all-out food war.

Technically it was Russ who started the 'friendly' fight but it was Charlie _and _Adam that turned it into a war.

Luis and Fulton have seemed to buddy up and it looks like they're planning revenge on Charlie and Adam.

Uh-oh.

Dean Buckley should have known better than to leave the Ducks unsupervised with buckets of soapy water and sponges.

Perhaps his 'shrinking sphincter' is acting up again.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!" Charlie's voice screamed through the cafeteria.

I looked up from the table I was scrubbin' and had to laugh.

Fulton and Luis had dumped a bucket of water over Charlie and Adam's heads respectively and whilst Charlie was mad, Adam looked horrified that his nice pristine white polo shirt was now a nice shade of brown. Not to mention it was wet too.

Charlie sent me a death glare and that made me laugh even harder. Portman took my cue and also burst out laughing.

Slowly one by one the Ducks started laughing, including Charlie and Adam.

"I bet Geeger wishes he were here to see this" Goldberg suddenly spoke.

"Geeger can kiss my ass for all I care" Connie replied from her spot next to Averman.

That's the strangest thing of all today; Connie and Averman are now an official couple.

"Connie remember what you promised" Charlie started.

"I know, I know" Connie rolled her eyes.

Her and Averman had taken the back corner and whenever they thought no one was looking they'd sneak in a kiss or two.

It was kinda sweet really.

There was this one time during the Goodwill Games that I wished she'd kiss me after I'd saved her from the big Iceland goon Sandersen but I had to settle with a grin and a friendly 'thank you' hug.

Oh well, I'll just have to find another pretty filly then.

"Kenny you missed a spot" Fulton ever-so-helpfully pointed out to an annoyed looking Ken.

"So clean it up then" Ken replied smartly.

"You're so lucky you're my little bash bro" Fulton warned and Ken rolled his eyes.

So now clean-up duty was starting to wear a little thin with everybody.

Just as well the Dean stuck his head in the door to tell us we could leave to attend hockey practice but we had to report to him first thing after school tomorrow.

Thank God it wasn't before school.

"Coach Orion is going to kill us" Russ appeared at my side as I threw my sponge into a bucket.

"I know I'm guessin its gonna be laps for all us" I replied dreading it already.

"Tell me about it Cowboy" Russ replied.

"I thought I just did" I responded wondering why he was chuckling.

"Oh Cowboy you're killing me" he exclaimed with a laugh.

If I were killing him why would he be laughing? Sometimes I really didn't understand what Russ meant.

I didn't query Russ' strangeness any further because Orion was standing at the locker room door and he didn't look happy.

"Do I have to even ask why my team was on clean-up duty?" he glared at Charlie.

"Sorry coach, just a little food fight that got out of hand" Charlie replied and he seemed to shrink a few inches.

"Just a little food fight? JUST a little food fight? You wasted almost a weeks worth of food, wasted Dean Buckley's time, you're now wasting my time and your little food fight has cost you valuable homework time. Don't for a second think I'm going to let the B rule slide because you've been too busy cleaning up the school to do your homework. I don't want anything below a B. I don't care if I have to bench the entire team. Do you understand me?" Coach Orion was turning a nasty shade of red.

"YES COACH ORION SIR!" Averman screeched. Oh boy doesn't that guy ever learn?

Coach Orion said nothing but glared at him.

"Get your gear on. We're doing laps and I don't want to hear any complaints" Orion barked and entered the locker room heading straight for his office.

Well that put a slight damper on everyone's moods. They reminded me of the bulls back home when they were in a bad mood. One wrong movement would send them off into a frenzy and I sure as hell didn't want to be in the firing line so I changed into my gear as quickly as possible.

We should know by now that Coach Orion means business. If anyone thought we'd only be doing a few measly laps then they were sorely mistaken. And I mean that literally. Coach made us run laps for the entire two hours and to top it all of he decided to call another practice to make up for this one at 5am tomorrow morning.

My legs were hurting much more than they ever had during shearing season back on the farm. I don't think I was the only one either, when we got back to the locker room Connie had pretty much collapsed on Averman and Averman looked ready to fall to the floor.

I still can't get my head around this whole Connie and Averman thing. Looking at them now made me think of how different he was to Guy.

Now Guy and Connie made sense, even if they hadn't have been together when I first met them. They have this little 'aura' around them.

Connie and Averman on the other hand just don't seem to have that same 'aura'. But you know what, if they're happy then I'm happy for them.

If Averman can get a girl like that then maybe there's hope for the rest of us.


	6. Russ

**RUSS' POV**

Dah-am.

That one word in my 'brother accent' pretty much summed it up.

Connie and Averman DAH-AM

I'm not sure if it's a good 'damn' or a bad 'damn'.

Its no secret that every guy on the team thought Connie was pretty. We all thought Julie was pretty too but with Connie she had that certain quality about her. It must be the dark hair that makes her seem more, I dunno 'mysterious' perhaps.

Watching them now as Connie leaned heavily on Averman for support after Coach's punishing practice I couldn't help but think about how much Eden Hall has changed the Ducks.

Obviously the starting point was when Jesse turned down his scholarship. That was like a kick in the guts to say the least. I wasn't lying when I told Julie this place was low on the brothers' quotient.

Next came Bombay's shock departure. After that whole 'Ducks Fly Together' speech where he made us look like lame-asses with the who are you and where are you from crap he goes and dumps us smack bang in the middle of "Preppsville USA".

Then of course was Portman bailing which made Fulton the only remaining Bash Brother.

Then Charlie cracks the worlds biggest tantrum and actually leaves the team with Fulton in tow leaving me and Goldberg to protect the team, not very well I might add.

Then Hans dies and somewhere in all of that crap Connie and Guy had broken up in a nasty fight.

So I guess you could say that Connie and Averman were now the cherry on top of a really whacked out sundae.

I guess I felt a little sorry for Guy in all of this. Aside from having been bitch slapped by a girl, he had to see his ex-girlfriend with one of his best friends.

So far he seemed to be succeeding at ignoring all of this, but how long would that last.

My bet was not very long.

Guy seemed to revert to making a less than dramatic exit from the locker room and it didn't take a genius to work out that he'd had enough of the Connie and Averman show.

"Guys I really don't want to see that, get a room!" Goldberg complained loudly.

"How about your room then?" Connie smirked evilly.

"Good Lord, someone kill me now" Goldberg was horrified.

Note to self, never share a room with Averman.

"Hey Russ wanna get some icecream?" Dwayne asked me hopefully.

It always made me grin whenever Dwayne got that look on his face. He was so damn naïve it wasn't funny. Wait, yes it was!

"Sure Cowboy" I agreed. I might be from the hood but I still liked my icecream.

"Can I come too?" Julie asked us.

"Sure you can Catlady" Dwayne grinned. He always had a soft spot for the girls on the team.

"Thanks guys" Julie grinned.

I figured it must be a little difficult for her now having lost quality time with Connie and she didn't have any other female friends at Eden Hall.

"Come on Russ lets go!" Dwayne said excitedly.

"I'm comin' Cowboy, keep your spurs on" I replied in my cool manner grabbing my do' rag and shoving it on my head.

"I aint wearing spurs" Dwayne made his confused face.

It wasn't that he was stupid, it was that his farm lovin' Texas upbringing didn't teach him much on the way of sarcasm and street slang. He simply didn't know any better.

Julie, Dwayne and myself left the locker room after calling goodbye to everyone and headed off campus in the direction of the icecream parlour.

"So what flavour are you getting Julie?" Dwayne asked.

"I'm not sure, a toss up between Cookies and Cream and Strawberry" Julie replied thinking about it.

"I know what I'm gonna get!" Dwayne said excitedly.

We didn't have to guess. Every time Dwayne went to the ice cream parlour he always got the same flavour, Vanilla.

"How about you Russ?" he turned to me.

"I'm not sure yet Cowboy" I replied. I liked to see what was on offer before making my decision.

"Oh okay" Dwayne replied.

"Hey guys wait up!" Connie's voice cut in behind us.

We turned to see her running towards us with Averman in tow. He looked like he was struggling to catch up.

"Hey guys what's up?" I asked.

"Can we come get icecream with you?" Connie asked the question and I was sure I could see a slight hesitation in her expression. She probably thought we didn't want the happy couple around.

"You sure can!" Dwayne replied grinning broadly.

"Thanks guys" Connie said happily holding Averman's hand.

Averman on the other hand completely looked like the pimp with the hottest chick. The glint in his eye was more than enough proof that he was one happy man.

Dwayne then asked the couple what flavour they were going to get and Averman grossed us all out by replying with:

"Chocolate with toffee mixed with mint chip with hot fudge sauce AND strawberry topping"

"EW!" Connie and Julie said at the same time.

"But its good!" Averman protested.

"Dude that is weird" I replied.

"I'll say" Dwayne agreed.

"Well I'm a weird guy" Averman replied not changing his mind.

I had to admire that. He knew what he liked and didn't care what anyone thought.

Connie let go of Averman's hand long enough to start chatting excitedly with Julie about some school dance that was coming up.

"So dude how's things with Connie?" I ask to make conversation. Truth was all of us male Ducks were dying to know.

"Great, you know she's not as psycho as Guy said she was" Averman said thoughtfully.

"Wait until she breaks your nose" I laugh.

"Not gonna happen, not if I keep her happy!" Averman said as if it were the most logical thing on the planet.

"Good luck!" I laughed again. If there was one thing I knew about girls it was that they were never, ever happy. Especially girls in South Central.

"I don't need it!" Averman said smugly.

"Sure dude" I replied.

He was in for one hell of a ride then.


	7. Portman

**PORTMAN'S POV**

"Hey bro!" my buddy Fulton thumped me on the shoulder in greeting.

Why we did that I'll never know but hey its fun and 'manly'!

I just grinned at him in acknowledgement. Now that practice was over and it was no secret that we always did our homework at the breakfast table, we had the entire evening free to do whatever.

"So have you figured out what's eating Julie yet?" he asked me and the question dampened my mood slightly.

"Nope and I have no idea what I've done to Connie. You'd think that she'd be happy with all of us now she's with Averman but noooo, she's happy with everyone BUT ME!" I said feeling more annoyed about it by the second.

Normally when the girls get mad at me it's because of something I've done or said and usually I don't mind cos I do deserve it. But this time it's different. I have no clue what I've said or done to make them ignore me for almost a week now and it seems that no one else knows either.

"Hey Bashes! We're gonna hook up Guitar Hero in Luis' room, you guys up for it?" Charlie asked with a grin as he passed us. He knew we weren't about to miss out on such an awesome game.

"I vote for Cowboys From Hell!" Fulton yelled.

"No way man, SYMPHONY OF DESTRUCTION!" I yelled even louder making several stray students in the hallways turn to stare at us.

"Cowboys!" Fulton argued.

"Symphony!" I argued back.

"Pantera!" Fulton replied shoving me.

"Megadeth!" I replied shoving him back.

"GUYS CUT IT OUT!" Charlie looked like he was babysitting three year olds.

"Yeah guys chill. Fulton can play Pantera with Charlie and I'll play Megadeth with Portman" Guy offered.

"Alright" Fulton pouted.

"Whatever dude, Germaine you'd better not suck" I replied feeling a little bummed I wont get to play with Fulton on the Playstation guitar. We normally pretended we were in a metal band and the Ducks were our 'crowd'.

"So are Connie and Julie gonna play groupies?" Fulton asked with a grin.

"Doubt it, they went off with Dwayne, Russ and Averman to get icecream. Plus they're not talking to Portman" Charlie reported.

"Yeah why is that?" Guy asked pausing to scratch his nose.

I stopped myself from laughing out loud when he winced in pain.

See I'm getting better! I can control myself from laughing at someone else's misfortune.

Although after Fulton and I had heard Connie broke Guy's nose we immediately went back to the dorm and laughed for a solid hour straight. It was hilarious to think that tiny little Connie took a pretty good swing at her ex-boyfriend.

This was the same tiny little Connie I happened to be checking out by complete accident and am never ever going to admit that out loud.

Of course to complete the weirdest week from hell the entire team finds out that Connie and Averman are a couple. Since when did Averman get the hot girls? Since when did Averman get any girls?

I was honestly under the impression that Averman didn't know the female life form existed. I seriously didn't know he even thought of Connie as a girl. I guess that shows me then huh!

Maybe I can scare him into telling me what the fuck is wrong with his chick and her psycho goalie friend. No Jules isn't psycho, she's really kinda perfect when you think about it.

No, no, no Portman the Catlady ain't the girl for you. She's more Cake Eater's type of borderline preppy girl who's way into hockey.

Oh great I can just see it now, all of these perfect little Gaffney/Banks kids with their blond hair and blue eyes.

Suddenly I feel like puking.

Until I picture the little Moreau/Averman kids with brown hair and glasses and immediately burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Fulton brought me back to reality.

"Moreau/Averman babies" I said earning myself several blank looks.

"Oh come on, its pretty damn funny, Connie's hair on Averman's face" I explain a little further.

Fulton's the first one to get it. Followed by Charlie.

Guy still remains silent.

"For crying out fucking loud Germaine, you have a hot chick of your own. Let it go already" I slap the boy on the shoulder.

"Whatever man, lets go play some Playstation" Guy wasn't convinced.

We were nearing Luis' dorm room and could hear a very awful version of "I love Rock & Roll" from down the hall.

"Goldberg still hasn't figured out the keys" Fulton commented cringing.

"Guess not" Charlie agreed.

We all turned to stare at Guy in puzzlement as he starts laughing hysterically.

"Oh come on Germaine, Goldberg's playing isn't that bad" Fulton stood up for the 2nd string goalie.

"No its not that, Moreau/Averman babies. Good one Portman" Guy had finally seen the funny side of things.

"Oookay" Fulton said opening the door to Luis' room where we were greeting by a flustered Goldberg trying frantically to move his fingers in time with the fret board on the screen.

"I just can't get it!" he cried out in frustration.

"Relax Goldie, keep practising you'll get it eventually" Charlie comforted his long-time friend.

"Easy for you to say" Goldie grumbled but nevertheless handed the guitar over.

Guy and I immediately lunge at the opportunity to go first.

"Prepare to be blown away!" I yell in Fulton's face.

"Too late Portman, Connie and Averman have already blown us away" Luis replied.

"Guys can we please concentrate on the task at hand here?" Guy looked agitated.

"Yeah, lets make a little wager on it" Fulton had the mischievous smirk on his face.

As the boys sorted out the finer details of the bet that I knew I would win I thought about ways I could make things right with Julie.

"Come on Portman get into the game!" Guy scolded me.

I realised that we were about to begin.

I'd better concentrate if I were going to win. I'd need the extra cash to win Julie's friendship back.


	8. Charlie

**CHARLIE'S POV**

I knew betting against Portman would be a bad idea. He's ten times crazier than Fulton and a better guitar player too.

"Pay up!" Portman ordered with a triumphant grin.

The rest of us, except for Guy of course, handed over our cash.

Portman counted it then split it with Guy who looked mighty pleased with himself. At least he can take his little princess out on a special date now.

Karen seems like a nice enough girl but she did cause massive conflict within our group, especially with Connie and I won't stand for it.

Ducks Fly Together.

That was our number one rule.

Now came the hard part. Could Connie, Averman and Guy fly together?

I sure as hell hoped so.

I'm a little apprehensive about the pair becoming an official item.

On the one hand, I'm really happy that Connie has found herself a boyfriend she could trust. She's been my best friend since we were in diapers. She could've gone and gotten herself a jerk for a boyfriend but instead she chose Averman who was about as trustworthy as you could get.

But on the other hand, I remember what it was like when Connie and Guy broke up for good. It was hell for the rest of the team and I really don't want to see that happen again.

But who am I to tell either of them who they can and can't go out with?

Connie might just break my nose like she did Guy's.

I suppressed a little grin when I looked over at Guy with his swollen nose. It did look really funny but I was the captain of the team and I was supposed to set an example for the rest of them. If Coach Orion even caught wind that I was being irresponsible then he'd have no hesitation about taking away my "C". He'd done it before and he'd do it again.

As much as I didn't want to take sides Guy should have known better than to call her creepy to her face. It wasn't the first time she'd punched a guy for calling her names. In the fourth grade she made Karp cry after she gave him a very painful chinese burn after he said she had cooties.

Not to mention the time she broke poor Averman's arm in kindergarten to stealing her GI Joe. That was Guy's fault too.

Maybe Connie and Guy are better off without each other.

"As King of the Guitar I declare we go play some puck!" Portman yelled waving his arms around like an idiot. Not that I'd ever say that out loud. I kinda like my face as it is.

"YEAH!" the Ducks including myself cheered. We were always up for a bit of hockey.

"What's all the commotion in here?" Russ asked sticking his head in the door.

"Just in time Tyler, we're gonna play some puck" Portman grinned.

"Alright!" Russ was happy.

It turned out he had Julie, Dwayne, Averman and Connie with him so the team was complete.

"Last one on the ice is a rotten egg!" I called racing out the door.

"Gee what are you Charlie five?" I heard Connie teasing me good-naturedly.

I turned around and grinned at her. I'd previously used the same phrase on her when she was whinging about her break-up with Guy. I wasn't exactly popular with her for a little while after that.

I laughed aloud when I felt her tiny hands give me a shove. I fell into the wall and she poked her tongue out at me as she ran past, dragging Averman by the hand.

"Is he alright?" Averman was trying to stop to see if I was okay.

"He'll live, come on!" Connie laughed knowing I was okay.

"Looks like Spazzway's the rotten egg!" Banks smirked at me on the way past.

"That's it!" I declared pushing myself off of the wall to launch myself forward. No way was Banksie gonna beat me.

I pushed my legs even harder as I tried to catch up with our star center. He was almost within my reach when I tripped over my own feet and crashed into his back. He in turn crashed into Guy in front of him and we had a domino effect. I felt someone slam into my back and before we knew it the entire team was a tangle of arms and legs on the floor and Mrs Madigan, Eden Halls "test lover" teacher was standing in front of us. She was not impressed.

"No running in the halls. You have now earned yourselves a weeks detention. Report to the detention room at lunchtime on Monday" she said simply before turning on her heel and walking down the hall.

"Good one Spazzway" the group grumbled slowly rising to their feet.

I grinned sheepishly "Sorry guys" I replied.

"That lady's obviously never had the entire team in detention before" Goldberg had a glint in his eye.

The District 5 Ducks immediately knew what he meant.

"I WILL NOT QUACK AT THE PRINCIPAL" Connie said with a smile.

"I WILL NOT QUACK AT THE PRINCIPAL" the rest of us joined in.

The out of state Ducks and Adam were looking at us as if we'd lost our minds.

"Pity Bombay won't come and bust us out this time. You think Orion might?" Averman pushed his glasses up.

"Doubt it" Guy replied.

"Oh well it was worth a shot!" Averman said brushing off the bitter tone in Guy's voice.

Like water off a Ducks back. That was the cool thing about Averman he never took anything personally.

"Would one of you idiots mind telling the rest of us what the hell "I WILL NOT QUACK AT THE PRINCIPAL" means?" Russ spoke up.

"Yeah!" Julie and Portman agreed at the same time.

They looked so startled that they actually smiled at each other for a split second before Julie regained her composure and glared at him again.

"Back in the D5 days Karp and Peter started a fight with Charlie over Bombay and we quacked at the principal. We got detention, Bombay broke us out. End of story" Averman contributed.

"Right" Russ said not quite understanding.

"One of those things you had to be there for huh?" Adam asked not understanding either.

"I spose" Goldberg shrugged feeling a little uncomfortable. It wasn't that the original Ducks went out of our way to make the others feel left out, it was just that sometimes old D5 stories come up.

"What was the fight about?" Julie asked looking at me.

"Bombay has the hots for Charlie's mom!" Guy laughed.

"At least my mom wasn't in Sports Illustrated!" I shot back.

"Shut up about that" Guy warned.

"No way! Mrs Germaine was in Sports Illustrated? Was she naked?" Portman asked earning a smack from Julie.

"Jeez Cat what was that for?" Portman glared at her.

"Show some respect for Mrs Germaine" Julie scolded.

"Thank you Julie" Guy was glad at least one of the Ducks was on his side.

"Guys I hate to break up the pleasure of teasing Guy about his mom but are we gonna go play puck or what?" Russ asked.

"YEAH!" the Ducks finally remembered what it was they were supposed to be doing and took off down the hall again.

I shook my head laughing and followed them. Sometimes they really did have the attention span of a goldfish.


	9. Adam

**ADAM'S POV**

Coach is going to kill us. Only last week we were in trouble for the cafeteria incident and he was pretty mad at us then. Wait until he finds out we've all scored detention for running in the hallway.

After we managed to pick ourselves up I couldn't help but sneak a glance at Julie's direction. I wasn't surprised to find she was watching Portman with the same expression I used when I was watching her.

Yes okay I do have a little crush on Julie Gaffney but she's got a major crush on Portman and it wouldn't at all surprise me if Portman liked Julie back. It was just a pity, or miracle – I'm still undecided, that they were both too stubborn to admit it.

"Ouch Cake-Eater you're on my hand!" Goldberg winced and I immediately lifted my foot up.

"Goldie I'm so sorry" I helped him to his feet.

"It's okay Banks, its not like I'm goalie anymore so I don't really need that hand" Goldie joked.

Goldberg had long since gotten over being bumped from 1st goalie to back up. I was glad Orion saw Julie's potential. I'm not just saying this because I like her but she is a much better goalie than Goldberg ever was. I never knew what Bombay was thinking not using Julie during the Goodwill Games but I guess the long and the short of it was, she was a secret weapon and Coach Stansson never had the chance to anticipate how good Julie was if he never saw her play until the last second.

"Banks quit your daydreaming, lets go!" Charlie yelled and I snapped out of it. Why is it that ninety percent of my thoughts are about hockey? Oh well hockey is my life I suppose.

"Coming" I replied taking off after the group.

Connie and Averman slowed down to wait for me, which was nice of them.

I remember when I showed up in the locker room on my first day of being a Duck. Charlie had tried to welcome me, Jesse Hall had stopped him and Averman tried to break the tension by cracking a joke.

Oooo, the Jess-man sizing up the new guy, the Jess-ter SHUT UP AVERMAN! 

You know he gets that a lot. I don't mind his jokes so much, he only makes them to get people, namely his friends, out of uncomfortable situations and that's why I think he's a great friend to all of us.

"So what's been happening in your world Banks?" Connie asked me with a smile.

That was the cool thing about Connie, whenever she asked you how you were she always was really interested in how you were.

"Not much, hockey, school, food and sleep" I replied.

"The four main categories" Averman interjected but was slapped in the arm by Connie.

"And then there's you my dove, you have a category all by yourself" Averman tried to cover his mistake.

"That's more like it!" Connie grinned.

I had to laugh, the two were pretty cute together. Oh god I sound like a girl. No wonder people think I'm gay!

"You forgot the sixth, well for this week anyway thanks to Charlie, detention!" I added.

Connie and Averman made matching faces. Wow that was kind of scary.

"Don't remind us!" Averman moaned.

"I'm going to kill Charlie!" Connie complained.

"Who's killing Captain Duck?" Portman turned around interested in the conversation.

"I AM!" Connie replied before she realised who she was talking to and frowned.

"Connie what is your…." Portman began but was cut off by Fulton.

"Come on bro. Not when she's feeling all homicidal" Fulton warned.

Portman accepted the explanation from Fulton and left it alone.

"So what is the problem with Portman anyway?" I asked when the Bash Brothers had skipped ahead.

"He's jerking Julie around and I don't like it" Connie replied.

"Are they together?" I asked surprised.

"No but it doesn't take a genius to see that she likes him. Portman may be a little dumb but he's not that dumb, no one's that dumb" Connie said.

"So what did he do?" I pressed on. As much as it hurt me to hear all of this, it hurt more to see Julie so down and I wanted to help make her happy again.

"The usual, whenever a cheerleader looks in his direction he has to run like some dog on heat. The last one was Carly Keenan, I swear they were about to do each other in the hallway. Julie saw it and ran and she hasn't spoken to him since. I could just kill him sometimes"

"Do you want me to talk to Portman?" I asked hoping like hell she'd say no.

"I don't see what good it would do. He's not going to change and until Julie can take off her rose coloured glasses and see the situation for what it is, she's only gonna keep on being hurt by it" Connie said quietly so that the others couldn't hear her.

I didn't respond to that. Partly because I didn't know what to say and the other part because we'd just arrived at the rink. We peeled off to the locker rooms and suited up in our practice gear.

"Dwayne did you bring your rope?" Charlie asked upon seeing the Varsity leaving the ice. He and I were both aware that they would only hang around to watch us scrimmage and we didn't want them to see any of our new plays. The JV/Varsity showdown was coming up in a few months and we were planning on keeping them to ourselves until then.

"Sure did Charlie" Dwayne broke out into a big grin. He knew what this meant.

"So who's up for some Cowboy Round up?" Charlie asked cheekily.

"ME!" the Ducks chorused rushing out to the ice before Dwayne could swing his lasso.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Rick Riley, the Captain of the Varsity team point in Connie and Averman's direction and say something to Cole, his offsider and possibly the biggest idiot I've ever met in my entire life.

I just hoped they weren't planning to do anything to them. If they mess with one (or two) Duck(s) they'd better be prepared to mess with the whole flock.


	10. Fulton

**FULTON'S POV**

If I hear Portman moaning about how the girls hate him one more freaking time I will decapitate him!

Surely he's not as dumb as he looks. Its plainly obvious that Julie's mad at him because (a) she's into him; and (b) she's not exactly thrilled with Portman's 'man whore' record at Eden Hall. Even I get surprised by the things he does occasionally and that's saying something.

And Connie's mad at him simply because Julie's her best friend. Its like girl code or something. At least I learned one useful thing from my sister.

Speaking of Connie I'm not at all surprised to find that her and Averman have managed to get caught in Dwayne's rope – at the same time!

I'm even less surprised when they leave the ice with eyes only on each other and proceed to the penalty box for yet another make out session.

Damn it! I thought we'd seen the last of the penalty box make outs when her and Guy broke up.

Speaking of Guy he seems to be taking this on eggshells. I can see that he's merely accepting this for the sake of the team but deep down he's not really that happy about it.

Can't blame him I suppose. They were together for a few years.

"Yee-haw! Look out Julie I'm a comin' for ya!" Dwayne yelled swinging his rope over his head.

Julie squealed and took off. She's a much faster skater without all of her padding on.

However, Dwayne's faster and as he got closer I saw Portman coming up alongside Julie.

Oh no I can see this ending badly.

Dwayne's rope was coming down.

At the last second he gently shoved Julie aside and she fell a awkwardly to the ice and the rope pulled Portman down to the ice where he landed with a thud face first.

Julie was wincing in pain.

"Portman what the hell?" Julie said trying to choke back tears. Her hands were clutched over her ankle.

Uh-oh.

"I'm sorry I was just trying to keep you in the game" Portman replied.

"So you try to break her ankle instead?" Luis stuck up for Julie.

"You want some Latino?" Portman stood up puffing his chest out.

"Guys don't fight!" Charlie tried to break it up before anything started.

"Julie are you okay?" Adam knelt down beside her.

"I think I sprained my ankle" Julie replied looking like she was three seconds away from tears.

It was strange – the Catlady never cries – unless it was over Portman.

He'd gone and done it again.

"Come on I'll help you off the ice" I offered before Portman could do anymore damage.

"Thanks Fulton" Julie looked up at me as Adam and I helped her to her feet.

We escorted her back to the locker room where Connie gently took off her skate.

"It's a little swollen but not too bad" she assessed.

"I got ice!" Portman pushed his way into the crowd with some ice.

"Thanks" Connie said tight lipped.

I could see she knew that he didn't mean anything by what he did and that he was just trying to make up for it now but she was still pissed that he'd managed to hurt Julie physically as well as emotionally.

We got Julie's ankle bandaged up and even managed to find her some old crutches in the Trainer's first aid room.

"I'm gonna find Coach Orion" Charlie announced.

Julie nodded. We all knew the Coach had to be informed of any injury.

"I'm really sorry Jules" Portman said hanging his head.

"You didn't mean to do it" Julie replied smiling at him. It looks like she was speaking to him again.

"Come on guys out – we need to get changed" Connie ushered us all out. Us boys had already changed whilst Connie was tending to Julie's ankle in the other room.

We all left the girls alone in the locker room and Portman looked a little pleased with himself.

"What's that smile for?" I asked as we leant against the wall all waiting for Connie and Julie to finish changing. We'd seen Cole and Rick hanging around earlier and wasn't going to let them anywhere near the girls without us there.

"I'm not in the shit anymore" Portman declared happily.

"I wouldn't be too confident just yet" Ken piped up.

"And why's that little bash bro?" Portman raised an eyebrow.

"Because they're girls, they always change their minds" Ken said simply and I had to laugh. It was true.

"Why are you guys still here?" Julie asked hobbling out of the locker room with Connie in tow holding Julie's bag as well as her own.

"Duh what does it look like? We're waiting for you girls to hurry up!" Goldberg replied cheekily.

"We're big girls now" Julie replied.

"We know" the boys including myself chorused. We'd had this conversation numerous times already.

"Well if it isn't the Ducks" Rick Riley and Biff Cole approached our group.

"I guess Ducks Fly Together includes injuring your own players huh?" Cole remarked eying Julie on her crutches.

"I could just as easily put you through that wall again if you wish" Portman leapt to Julie's side glaring at the big dumb Varsity player.

"Do that and you'll be kicked off the team" Cole retorted but Rick held his hand up to shut him up.

"So Moreau, I hear you have your little carrot top boy-toy now. When are you gonna stop dating Ducks and find yourself a real man?" he looked over at Connie who was fuming.

"Averman is more of a man than you'll EVER be. Did you forget your own girlfriend ditched you for a Duck?" Connie replied putting Rick back in his place.

"Watch your back little Duckies – we'll be coming for you when you least expect it" Rick delivered yet another empty threat before walking away, dragging Cole with him.

"So who wants pizza?" Goldberg piped up changing the subject mainly for Connie's benefit. She looked ready to blow a gasket.

"Great idea Goldie" Charlie had rejoined the group.

So it was settled – we were having another pizza and movie night in the girls dorm.

* * *

**a/n - thanks for your reviews, there is only one more chapter of this fic left then I'll start the Julie/Portman one next week some time.**


	11. Julie

**JULIE'S POV**

Throughout the movie I couldn't help but sneak glances at Connie and Averman. They looked so happy as they cuddled together and stealing kisses whenever they thought no one was looking.

I couldn't help but be a little jealous. If only Dean and I could have something like that. Wait what am I saying? There is no Dean and me. There's Dean and the cheerleaders and there's Dean and just about every other girl in this school but there has never, never been a 'Dean and Julie'.

So why was he sitting next to me getting as close as he could without actually sitting on me?

Get a grip Julie, its probably because it is really overcrowded in here. Yeah that's what it is.

I concentrated on slowing my breathing down to a normal pace and willed my heart to stop thumping so loudly. This was hell sitting here being so close to Dean Portman that I had to literally pinch myself in order to stop myself from leaning over and kissing him.

I'm pathetic aren't I? I know he's all wrong for me and I know he'd only just end up breaking my heart but it didn't stop me from wanting it so badly.

In order to take my mind off of things I tried to tune into the movie. Just my luck that it would be Star Wars Episode 1. Normally I can handle watching this stuff but since I'd already seen it like 50 times with Charlie my mind started to wander and three guess where it wandered to.

For those of you who can't figure it out I'll make it painstakingly obvious – of course my thoughts wandered back to Dean Portman.

My heart nearly leapt out of my throat when he moved even closer and laid his head on my shoulder casually saying he was tired.

What kind of game was he playing at this time?

From the corner of my eye I saw Fulton look at his friend and shake his head.

Connie was eyeing me silently asking what was up. I raised my eyebrows at her in an attempt to say "I have no idea". Everyone else was still watching the movie.

After another hour or so of trying to keep my shit together I heard a strange noise. Obviously I wasn't the only one who noticed it because Charlie had pressed pause and was asking.

"What is that?"

We were all looking around the room and I realised that it was coming from Portman. He had fallen fast asleep on my shoulder and was now snoring his head off.

The Ducks tried to keep their laughter to minimum volume but it was very difficult. Even I had to laugh. It was a funny sight.

"Julie try waking him up" Charlie suggested.

"No way dude, he's freaking insane if he's woken up" Fulton piped up.

"I agree I don't want to die just yet" Averman agreed.

"At least you've got Connie to protect you Aves!" Russ grinned.

"Shut up Russ!" Connie replied half laughing.

"Make me Moreau" Russ taunted back good-naturedly.

"Will all of you shut up, I'm trying to sleep and I'm comfortable!" Portman grumbled from the depths of my shoulder.

"I think the man has spoken" Charlie laughed.

"Oooh the Bash Brother and the Catlady" Goldberg teased.

I shot him a look that basically said "Shut up or die" and Goldberg quickly obliged.

Thank god.

"So do we have to set a rule with these two now – no kissing on the ice" Ken said cheekily.

I swear I was about to kill the little bash brother there and then.

"WE ARE NOT TOGETHER DAMN IT!" I screamed getting up from my spot on the floor and storming out of the room. I knew it was overkill but I was so damn angry. How dare they think something was going on when it wasn't.

In the process Portman's head had slid to the floor.

"What the hell Jules?" I heard him ask after me.

Great so he probably thought I was mad at him now. Truth was I wasn't mad at him anymore. I guess I'd gotten over myself and realised that he could kiss – or sleep with – anyone he wanted since we weren't together in any way, shape or form.

"Julie wait!" I heard Connie running down the hallway behind me.

"I'm sorry Cons, I know I went a bit overboard" I replied feeling like a fool.

"No they just need to learn when to shut up" Connie said loud enough for the boys to hear.

"Come on lets go talk in our dorm room without any prying ears around" Connie had spotted the top of Charlie and Fulton's heads trying to peek around the door frame.

I looked back at the dorm room and saw the heads rapidly retreating. They are so nosy it's not funny.

"Yeah lets go" I agreed needing to have a one on one chat with my best friend.

"So what was the deal with you and Portman in there a minute ago?" Connie pounced on me the second our door was shut.

"I don't know, one minute I'm trying to watch the movie and the next he's telling me he's tired and drops his head on my shoulder" I explained not understanding myself what had happened.

Connie thought about this for a moment, pondering her answer.

"I think he likes you" she finally said.

"Yeah right, Portman doesn't like girls like me Cons, he likes the cheerleader type. Plus he knows damn well he's got no chance of getting into my pants. Well not straight away anyway" I replied feeling myself blush. I hadn't realised I was giving too much information away.

"JULIE GAFFNEY!" Connie scolded with a huge smile on her face.

"What?" I replied coyly.

"You…. Nevermind. I'm sure every girl has had the fantasy about the hot hockey player" Connie laughed.

"Yeah and yours is about a certain red-headed hockey player named oh gee I dunno, Averman!" I teased her back.

"Oh no you caught me" Connie grinned.

I missed having these girly chats with her. Not that I was resentful of her relationship with Averman. I was extremely happy for her that she'd moved on from Guy with someone who will treat her with the respect she deserves.

Guy did treat her with respect whilst they were together but when they broke up however, that was a different story.

And if my best friend in the entire world was happy then I was happy for her.

I just hoped I could be as happy as her one day.

* * *

**A/N - and that's the end. Thanks to all who reviewed and I'm sorry if there wasn't too much movement in this story. It was really hard to write. I'll make a start on the Julie/Portman fic soon.**


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Mighty Ducks